CHRYSALIS

THE IDIOT'S LANTERN

I step out of the tardis, brushing a stray hair back and looking around. It's a shame Rose decided to stay with her mom for a while, but it might be better for right now.

"I thought we'd be going for the Vegas era."

The Doctor pokes his head out of the tardis, "You're kidding, aren't you? If you wanna see Elvis, you go in the late '50s! The time before burgers." He goes back inside, "When they called him 'the pelvis' and he still had a waist!"

I giggle.

"What's more, you see him in style!"

I look over at the tardis when I hear the sound of an engine. The Doctor rides out on a blue late-50s moped.

I laugh in amusement as he stops, with big sunglasses and a white helmet on his head.

He makes an Elvis face and does an impression, "You goin' my way, doll?"

"Is there any other way to go, daddy-o?" I walk towards the moped, "Straight from the fridge, man!"

"Hey, you speak the lingo!" He hands me a blue version of his helmet, I take it and put it on.

"Yeah, well, I was obsessed with Marilyn Monroe when I was in middle school." I sit behind him and wrap my arms around his waist.

We drive off down the street.

"Where we off to?" I shout over the noise of the engine.

"Ed Sullivan TV Studios, Elvis did 'Hound Dog' on one of the shows, there were loads of complaints. Bit of luck, we'll just catch it."

"And that would be in New York?" I ask.

"That's the one!"
A red London bus drives past us, and the Doctor stops the moped. I look around and notice, we are in fact in London.

"Digging that New York vibe." I tease him.

"Well... this could still be New York, I mean this looks very New York to me... Sort of... Londony New York, mind..."
"What are all the flags for?"

We walk past two boys carrying a tv into a house.

"There you go, sir, all wired up for the great occasion."

"The great occasion? What d'you mean?" The Doctor asks.

"Where've you been living, out in the Colonies? Coronation, of course."

"What Coronation's that, then?"

The man seems bemused, "What d'you mean? The Coronation."

The Doctor seems confused so he looks to me for help.

"The Queen's." He doesn't get it, "Queen Elizabeth!"

"Oh! Oh, is this 1953?!"

"Last time I looked. Time for a lovely bit of pomp and circumstance, what we do best."

I look up at the chimneys, "Look at all the TV aerials... looks like everyone's got one. That's weird, gran said tellies were so rare they all had to pile into one house."

"Not round here, love. Magpie's Marvelous Tellies, only five quid a box."

The Doctor suddenly cuts in, "Oh but this is a brilliant year! Classic! Technicolor, Everest climbed, everything off the ration. The Nation throwing off the shadows of war and looking forward to a happier, brighter future!"

I hear a woman shouting, "Someone help me, please! Ted!"

A man with a blanket over his head is being led into a black police car by two suited men.